In general, the present invention relates to an information processing method, an information processing apparatus, a program storage medium and a program. More particularly, the present invention relates to an information processing method and an information processing apparatus which are used for preventing content from being copied and used illegally without a license from the owner of the copyright in the content, a program for implementing the information processing method and a program storage medium for storing the program.
In recent years, users have provided musical data they own to other users and have received musical data they do not own from other users through the Internet in content-exchanging system that allows a plurality of users to exchange musical data free of charge.
In such content-exchanging system, theoretically, music or another content owned by one user can thus be enjoyed by other users. Therefore, many users do not have to purchase such a piece of music or such content. As a result, since such a piece of music or such content does not sell well, the owner of the copyright in the content loses the opportunity to gain a royalty for the use of the piece of music or the content accompanying the sales of the piece of music or the content.
In society, there is thus a demand to prevent content from being copied and used illegally.